While it’s not technically fasting, some doctors have reported intermittent fasting benefits by allowing such easy-to-digest food as whole fruit during the fasting window. Modifications like these can still give your digestive and metabolic system a needed rest. For example, “Fit for Life” was a popular weight loss book that suggested eating only fruit after supper and before lunch.
The primary reason for the failure of virtually any diet is the fact that you simply become too hungry and feel too deprived to continue following the meal plan. If you are like most people, you have probably tried overpriced diet programs, during which you are expected to get through an afternoon of work on a few tablespoons of pasta and a small protein shake.
In fact, the authors of this book said that they had patients who only changed their eating habits with this twelve- to sixteen-hour “fruit” fast each day. They did not follow the diet’s other rules or count calories, and they still lost weight and got healthier. This strategy might have simply worked because the dieters replaced junk food with whole foods. In any case, people found this dietary change effective and easy to make. Traditionalists won’t call this fasting; however, it’s important to know that you may have options if you absolutely can’t abstain from food for several hours at a time.
With methods like this, when the contact time between the water and the grounds is longer, a coarser grind is essential. If the grind is too fine, the grounds can get stuck in the filter or even get through the filter causing problems. It can make it harder to press down on the plunger and your coffee can end up with grinds in it. Worst of all, the finer grind means the coffee is left in contact with the water for too long, causing a bitter brew.
Hello Maria, I can honestly say I look forward to my morning black coffee now, just as much as I enjoy a cup with a little cream, once my eating window opens late afternoon. My easiest “go-to” tip is adding just the smallest pinch of pink Himalayan salt to my coffee. It really works to smooth out the black coffee bitterness! Good luck with your IF journey, Maria!

Eat normally for five days of the week, taking in fewer than 600 calories on the remaining two days; fasting days should be non consecutive. This is a slightly less arduous variation of the every-other-day fasting plan, but it also puts you in the fasted state for significantly less time. Consider using this particular intermittent fasting schedule as a stepping stone to something more advanced.

Hi Thea, That’s wonderful that IF has worked for you. Diets, and particularly fasting, can be very triggering for others with a history of an eating disorder. People who have been in remission can relapse. For more about what concerns and problems others have had, there is alot of information out there, and for starters I recommend this thorough article from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hunger-artist/201411/the-fast-diet-fast-route-disordered-eating
Keep in mind that when considering using pink Himalayan salt in your coffee, it really is more for taste than for the health purposes. Some experts warn that the best way to reap the benefit of the pink wonder is to place it directly on or under your tongue, so that it can be immediately absorbed into your system. Adding it to coffee or water would minimize that process.
On the flip side of that, eating keto can make your periods of fasting more manageable. For example, someone who is eating a diet higher in carbs will likely have more discomfort with intermittent fasting as the body constantly switches between glucose for fuel and ketones for fuel. By continuing to eat keto even during feeding periods, you can keep your body constantly running on ketones.
Since all of your hormones are so deeply interconnected, when one hormone is thrown off balance, the rest are also negatively impacted. It’s like a domino effect. As the “messengers” that regulate nearly every function in your body — from energy production to digestion, metabolism, and blood pressure — you don’t want to disrupt their natural rhythm.
Worried about losing muscle if you fast? Maybe this will put your concerns to rest: a single 24-hour fast increased human growth hormone (HGH) by 2000% in men and 1300% in women.[2] HGH plays an integral role in building muscle. Boosting your levels this high will have huge effect on your physique. Research shows that higher levels of HGH leads to lower levels of body fat, higher lean body mass and improved bone mass.[3]
There were [no statistical] differences between the low- and high- [meal frequency] groups for adiposity indices, appetite measurements or gut peptides (peptide YY and ghrelin) either before or after the intervention. We conclude that increasing meal frequency does not promote greater body weight loss under the conditions described in the present study.